While Thomas Pynchon’s second and arguably most accessible novel
thematically “singl[es] up all lines” (Crying 20) with the
overarching leitmotifs of his oeuvre, it really stands as the odd
one out in terms of length. With its roughly 130–180 pages
(depending on edition), The Crying of Lot 49 might appear as
a relapse towards the brevity of Pynchon’s first work, the short
stories later published in Slow Learner. Particularly when
compared to his other major works, V., Gravity’s
Rainbow, Mason & Dixon and Against the Day,
which tend to incorporate a plethora of such micronarratives and
knot them into a byzantine tapestry, The Crying of Lot
…

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Citation:
Huber, Sebastian. "The Crying of Lot 49".
The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 December 2010
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1139, accessed 02 August 2015.]

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1139The Crying of Lot 493Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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